The Death of a Jaybird
Essays on Mothers and Daughters and the Things They Leave Behind
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- 14,99 €
Descrizione dell’editore
Reminiscent of The Year of Magical Thinking and Somebody’s Daughter, a deeply empathetic and often humorous collection of essays that explore the author’s ever-changing relationships with her grandmother and mother, through sickness and health, as they experience the joys and challenges of Black American womanhood.
Jodi M. Savage was raised in Brooklyn, New York, by her maternal grandmother. Her whip-smart, charismatic mother struggled with addiction and was unable to care for her. Granny—a fiery Pentecostal preacher who had a way with words—was Jodi’s rock, until Alzheimer’s disease turned the tables, and a 28-year-old Jodi stepped into the role of caretaker. It was up to Jodi to get them both through the devastations of a deteriorating mind. After Granny passed away, Jodi spent years trying to reckon with her grief. Jodi and her mother were both diagnosed with breast cancer nearly a decade later, and then Jodi lost her too.
In this searing, candid collection of essays, Jodi illuminates the roles that identity and memory play in preserving those we love. Jodi explores the lives of modern Black women and communities through the prism of her personal experiences. With grace, creativity, and insight, she looks at femininity, family, race, mental illness, grief, healthcare, and faith. Jodi deftly portrays how trauma is inherited, and how the struggle to break a generational curse can last a lifetime.
The Death of a Jaybird is a thoughtful examination of complicated family love, loss, and the liberating power of claiming our stories.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Attorney Savage sets forth an affecting ode to her late mother and grandmother in this stirring debut collection. Savage was raised in Brooklyn by her grandmother, Annie McKinney, while her mother, Cheryl, shuffled in and out of prison as she grappled with addiction and bipolar disorder. When Savage was 28, McKinney developed Alzheimer's, and Savage stepped in as her caretaker until she died. A few years later, Savage and her mother were both diagnosed with breast cancer; Savage survived, but her mother did not. In these essays, Savage turns her relationships with both women over and over in the light: "Searching for Salvation in Antioch," the strongest piece, sees Savage trying to understand how her feminism fits in with her grandmother's beloved Pentecostal Church ("Women make up the majority of most Black churches.... And yet many churches preach sexism and misogyny and violence towards women"). In "The Things She Left Behind," the author frames her hoarding—of documents, photographs, clothes, cassette tapes, unfinished food—as a method of coping with her losses. While each entry contains deep feeling, the collection really sings when it's focused on the radiant bond between Savage and her grandmother—she's less able to make her mother an indelible presence on the page. Still, readers grappling with personal loss will find comfort and sensitivity in these pages.
